Helicopter pilot foils hijack attempt, part of an escape plan for convicted terrorist
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
A helicopter pilot foiled an attempted hijack of his apparatus by an armed woman who authorities believe wanted to use it to help convicted terrorist Nikos Maziotis escape from Korydallos prison, Greece’s anti-terrorism unit announced on Monday.
In 2013, Maziotis was convicted in absentia to 50 years in prison for setting up the now-defunct Revolutionary Struggle terrorist group, simple complicity in attempted murder, and a series of attacks claimed by group. He had been on the run since 2012 and was arrested in July 2014.
According to the anti-terrorist squad, the helicopter was leased by a woman who has since been identified by the pilot as Maziotis’ wife, Pola Roupa, at the municipality of Ermionida, in the Argolis regional unit of the Peloponnese on Sunday, and was supposed to fly to the island of Kythnos after picking up six more passengers.
Describing the incident in an announcement, anti-terror police said that the helicopter was near Athens, when the woman pulled out a gun and told the pilot to redirect the aircraft towards the city. The pilot immediately tried to disarm the woman which caused him to lose control of the helicopter and start to lose altitude. During the struggle, the woman shot him three times without injuring him. Instead, the bullets pierced the instruments.
Amazingly, the pilot managed to land the helicopter at an uninhabited mountainous area near the town of Thiva. The woman immediately opened the door and run away.
Anti-terror police found Roupa’s gun in the helicopter, along with a wig and more objects from which police are expecting to collect DNA data.
ANA-MPA, Athens